The present invention relates to an ice-skate instructional kit that includes at least one pair of slip-on covers for the front of ice-skates and sticker members with instructional indicia for placing thereon. Embodiments of this invention also include slip-on covers that can be clipped on the ice-skates and that can be held in place by a plurality of securing clips.
Left-right confusion refers to the difficulty that a young person might have when learning to distinguish the left and right directions. This confusion is commonplace and can be a particular challenge for children who are learning how to ice-skate. Left-right confusion may be related to certain learning and attention deficits. For some children, learning left from right is a persistent problem that sometimes becomes a daily struggle. Research also shows that left-right confusion affects approximately 15% of the United States population.
Children and young adults ice-skate for a variety of reasons including for exercise or leisure. This can be done on outdoor or indoor tracks that are specially prepared or on frozen lakes and rivers. This inventive concept can assist children and adults to develop quicker symmetry judgments. This improvement can occur after repetitive use and during ice-skating.
Another desirable feature of this invention is the manner in which the stickers can be repeatedly used to decorate the ice-skates. People and society have become more conscious of the need to decorate various types of footwear. Various models of shoe covers and stickers have been developed to either protect or decorate an ice-skate. The slip-on covers and stickers can be created in a variety of shapes and sizes beyond those that have been presented herein. For example, the stickers can have directional words, directional symbols and gender identifying words for instructional use, for decorating the ice-skates and to further assist a child to learn left from right.
There has been continuous need for improvements in footwear based on the needs of the industry or the user. For example, conventional shoe decorations or covers do not help identify a user's shoe or help in distinguishing left from right. Often, there is a lack in variety and the shoe covers do not offer instructional benefits.
To this end, the ice-skate instructional kit of the present invention seeks to put a system in place to facilitate left-right distinction during ice-skate instruction, help a user distinguish the left ice-skate from the right, decorate an ice-skate and further personalize its front area.
The design of the slip-on cover will also be suitable and effective for ice-skaters. The functionality will include an improved way to decorate skates. The user simply places a slip-on cover on the skate and decorates it using a plurality of stickers having directional words, directional symbols and gender identifying words for decorating the ice-skates.
A user could easily identify his or her ice-skate based on the color chosen for the slip-on cover and the personal and instructional messages placed thereon. The slip-on cover is quickly removable and the user can replace the slip-on covers with a new or existing cover. The slip-on cover can also be wiped off in preparation for a separate set of stickers.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an ice-skate instructional kit that integrates at least one pair of slip-on covers and replaceable instructional elements. This kit would help children express their creativity and help them learn left from right. It would greatly reduce the risks of slips and falls due to wearing skates on the wrong foot and the frustration of putting on boots and taking them off. It would also be used as a tool to help ice-staking coaches to instruct students; especially since being able to distinguish left from right is pivotal to a successful learning experience. Even more importantly, the slip-on cover provides skaters with special needs the opportunity to take part in skating lessons by providing a color-coded and multi-directional way to distinguish left from right.